The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 1 eBook

SECTION CXIX

Janamejaya said, “O thou of ascetic wealth!
when the sons of Pandu and the Vrishnis reached the
holy spot Prabhasa, what did they do and what conversation
was held there by them, for all of them were of mighty
souls, proficient in all the branches of science and
both the Vrishnis and the sons of Pandu held one another
in friendly estimation.”

Vaisampayana said, “When the Vrishnis reached
the holy spot Prabhasa, the sacred landing-place on
the coast of the sea, they surrounded the sons of
Pandu and waited upon them. Then Valarama, resembling
in hue the milk of the cow and the Kunda flower and
the moon and the silver and the lotus root and who
wore a wreath made of wild flowers and who had the
ploughshare for his arms, spake to the lotuseyed one,
saying, ’O Krishna, I do not see that the practice
of virtue leads to any good or that unrighteous practices
can cause evil, since the magnanimous Yudhishthira
is in this miserable state, with matted hair, a resident
of the wood, and for his garment wearing the bark
of trees. And Duryodhana is now ruling the earth,
and the ground doth not yet swallow him up. From
this, a person of limited sense would believe a vicious
course of life is preferable to a virtuous one.
When Duryodhana is in a flourishing state and Yudhishthira,
robbed of his throne, is suffering thus, what should
people do in such a matter?—­This is the
doubt that is now perplexing all men. Here is
the lord of men sprung from the god of virtue, holding
fast to a righteous path, strictly truthful and of
a liberal heart. This son of Pritha would give
up his kingdom and his pleasure but would not swerve
from the righteous path, in order to thrive. How
is it that Bhishma and Kripa and the Brahmana Drona
and the aged king, the senior member of the house,
are living happily, after having banished the sons
of Pritha? Fie upon the vicious-minded leaders
of Bharata’s race! What will that sinner,
the chieftain of the earth, say to the departed forefathers
of his race, when the wretch will meet them in the
world to come? Having hurled from the throne
his in-offensive sons, will he be able to declare that
he had treated them in a blameless way? He doth
not now see with his mind’s eye how he hath
become so sightless, and on account of what act he
hath grown blind among the kings of this entire earth.
Is it not because he hath banished Kunit’s son
from his kingdom? I have no doubt that Vichitravirya’s
son, when he with his sons perpetrated this inhuman
act, beheld on the spot where dead bodies are burnt,
flowering trees of a golden hue. Verily he must
have asked them, when those stood before him with
their shoulders projected forward towards him, and
with their large red eyes staring at him, and he must
have listened to their evil advice, since he fearlessly
sent away Yudhishthira to the forest, who had all his
weapons of war with him and was borne company by his